A Tennessee medical malpractice lawyer must prove the following things to prove a medical malpractice (now called a health care liability) case in Tennessee:
1. The standard of care for the health care provider. For example, if the claim is that a family doctor failed to timely diagnose an infection, the patient’s lawyer must prove what a family doctor should do when presented with the information available to the doctor at the time of the alleged failure to diagnose the infection. The standard of care must be proved by another doctor of the same or similar specialty, and that doctor must practice medicine in Tennessee or a state adjoining Tennessee.
2. The failure of the health care provider to follow the standard of care. Thus, using the same example, the patient’s lawyer must demonstrate that the doctor did not comply with the standard of care, that is, that the doctor either did something the doctor should not have done or failed to do something the doctor should have done.